What is WordPress? WordPress is an open source CMS, often used as a blog publishing application powered by PHP and MySQL. What does this mean? It means it's a bad ass mofo, that's what.

One of the number ones questions people come to me for is to figure out how the heck they move from WordPress.com over to WordPress.org. Most of the time it's the same old story "Oh I didn't realize they were different". Yep folks they are different and here are the major things you need to know.

WordPress.com is a site where you can host a free version of WordPress. Free sounds great right? Nawww, not likely. While it runs on the same platform as WordPress.org, WordPress.com has some severe limitations such as:

You can't run any pay per click ads or make money off ads on your WordPress.com site. You also can't write any paid posts or make any money off this site, period. It's not meant for commercial use or personal even, with a side of cash moolah.

You also can't upload plugins. Most people realize this fairly quickly and want to punch themselves in the face when they realize WordPress.com wasn't what they were looking for. In addition, you can't upload themes so that $45 theme you just purchased through themeforest is utterly useless. And to make matters worse you don't get FTP access to your back end! (Oh my) Everyone knows that for the love of all things, thanks to annoying hackers, you WILL need back end access at least once in your WordPress adventure.

You are also limited in space so if you love to film yourself and slap those videos on your website, WordPress.com is not the best choice for you.

Some people argue that you can pay more to remove some of the above limitations and while that is true, it's just silly. Why drive 1000 miles to get something that you can find in your front yard?

Another question I get asked fairly often is Self Hosted VS WordPress.com, which is basically the same question as the title of this blog. If you are confused by those terms, let me help ya out. All that self hosted means is you are in control. Self Hosted, also known as WordPress.org, is great because you can pick any web host across the globe to host your little baby. Heck if you want your little friend who runs servers from his mama's basement to host it, go for it. WordPress.com, the somewhat free version of WordPress the platform actually hosts that one for you and restricts the crap out of your stuff in exchange for this freebie. Remember they are a business and need to make money too

So:

Self hosted or WordPress.org = FULL CONTROL

WordPress.com = LIMITED CONTROL

Now if you are a no frills, give me the flat country with a side or no responsibility, WordPress.com seems like a good fit for you. There are relatively no possible ways to get some creepy virus or other strange happenings in WordPress.com land, so if you want safe and sound, that is your best route. Just know that if you want to do and be more than just a flat little blog, you'll need to mosey on over to WordPress.org.

The last question I seem to get on a daily basis is, "Can you help me move my WordPress.com site over to WordPress.org". Why yes my dear I can, but I'll save that for another post. Got questions? Message me below and I'll help you out!